Fiddlesticks! I don't know why people think they have to own a high end machine to sew mostly straight seams. There are some bells and whistles, like needle down, that are nice but many of us sewed many a quilt when we turned the hand crank on the right hand side of the machine to get the needle in the fabric before we pressed the foot or knee pedal or, if the machine was really old, started treadling. Everyone--except me--on this board is crazy for a Featherweight, which sews only forward and backward.
Wal Mart sells Brother machines, some with decorative stitches (not embroidery) at a very reasonable price. Or go to a dealer and see what he/she has in trade in.
And you mght remind your wife that until very recent history, using a machine for any phase of quilting was verboten. Everything had to be done by hand. Froggyintexas
Originally Posted by
enderwiggen
Hi,
I'll start out and say I'm not a quilter, nor do I intend to be one. I'm posting for help for my wife. She recently started quilting with a friend and has become addicted. She has been using her friend's machine (a very VERY nice one from what I hear) and is now discouraged from starting to quilt on her own. We don't have the finances to acquire a machine of the caliber that she has been using (several thousand dollars), and she is now saying that she doesn't want to do it at all since we can't afford the machine her friend has at home.
My question is: how can I encourage her? I want her to continue since it makes her happy, but she seems convinced that she can't sew without a high end machine. I know nothing about sewing machines, but I do know that there has to be some sort of machine that can do the basics (which is her skill level at the moment). There's surely some sort of machine that can support her new interest and carry her through until we CAN afford a nice machine.
I would really appreciate some advice on this. I want her to continue quilting but I need advice on how to keep her going until we can afford something really nice. Is there something she could start on and step up to another machine later? I'm out of my depth here.